The Linuxologist

One of the many tired myths about Linux is that it’s very difficult to install software. Many argue why should they type in a command instead of can just clicking next, next, check a box, next, and one more next? However Windows isn’t really as clear cut as they try to make it sound to be. Last year, an E-mail sent by Bill Gates to some Microsofties was leaked. Bill detailed his frustrating experience in downloading and installing Windows Movie Maker. While Bill’s experience is extreme, it illustrates that typing a command isn’t so bad after all. Most modern Linux distros have graphical interfaces to install software anyways.

From: Bill Gates
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 10:05 AM
To: Jim Allchin
Cc: Chris Jones (WINDOWS); Bharat Shah (NT); Joe Peterson; Will Poole; Brian Valentine; Anoop Gupta (RESEARCH)
Subject: Windows Usability Systematic degradation flame

I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don’t drive usability issues.

Let me give you my experience from yesterday.

I decided to download (Moviemaker) and buy the Digital Plus pack … so I went to Microsoft.com. They have a download place so I went there.

The first 5 times I used the site it timed out while trying to bring up the download page. Then after an 8 second delay I got it to come up.

This site is so slow it is unusable.

It wasn’t in the top 5 so I expanded the other 45.

These 45 names are totally confusing. These names make stuff like: C:\Documents and Settings\billg\My Documents\My Pictures seem clear.

They are not filtered by the system … and so many of the things are strange.

I tried scoping to Media stuff. Still no moviemaker. I typed in movie. Nothing. I typed in movie maker. Nothing.

So I gave up and sent mail to Amir saying – where is this Moviemaker download? Does it exist?

So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated.

They told me to go to the main page search button and type movie maker (not moviemaker!).

I tried that. The site was pathetically slow but after 6 seconds of waiting up it came.

I thought for sure now I would see a button to just go do the download.

In fact it is more like a puzzle that you get to solve. It told me to go to Windows Update and do a bunch of incantations.

This struck me as completely odd. Why should I have to go somewhere else and do a scan to download moviemaker?

So I went to Windows update. Windows Update decides I need to download a bunch of controls. (Not) just once but multiple times where I get to see weird dialog boxes.

Doesn’t Windows update know some key to talk to Windows?

Then I did the scan. This took quite some time and I was told it was critical for me to download 17megs of stuff.

This is after I was told we were doing delta patches to things but instead just to get 6 things that are labeled in the SCARIEST possible way I had to download 17meg.

So I did the download. That part was fast. Then it wanted to do an install. This took 6 minutes and the machine was so slow I couldn’t use it for anything else during this time.

What the heck is going on during those 6 minutes? That is crazy. This is after the download was finished.

Then it told me to reboot my machine. Why should I do that? I reboot every night — why should I reboot at that time?

So I did the reboot because it INSISTED on it. Of course that meant completely getting rid of all my Outlook state.

So I got back up and running and went to Windows Updale again. I forgot why I was in Windows Update at all since all I wanted was to get Moviemaker.

So I went back to Microsoft.com and looked at the instructions. I have to click on a folder called WindowsXP. Why should I do that? Windows Update knows I am on Windows XP.

What does it mean to have to click on that folder? So I get a bunch of confusing stuff but sure enough one of them is Moviemaker.

So I do the download. The download is fast but the Install takes many minutes. Amazing how slow this thing is.

At some point I get told I need to go get Windows Media Series 9 to download.

So I decide I will go do that. This time I get dialogs saying things like “Open” or “Save”. No guidance in the instructions which to do. I have no clue which to do.

The download is fast and the install takes 7 minutes for this thing.

So now I think I am going to have Moviemaker. I go to my add/remove programs place to make sure it is there.

It is not there.

What is there? The following garbage is there. Microsoft Autoupdate Exclusive test package, Microsoft Autoupdate Reboot test package, Microsoft Autoupdate testpackage1. Microsoft AUtoupdate testpackage2, Microsoft Autoupdate Test package3.

Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up.

But that is just the start of the crap. Later I have listed things like Windows XP Hotfix see Q329048 for more information. What is Q329048? Why are these series of patches listed here? Some of the patches just things like Q810655 instead of saying see Q329048 for more information.

What an absolute mess.

Moviemaker is just not there at all.

So I give up on Moviemaker and decide to download the Digital Plus Package.

I get told I need to go enter a bunch of information about myself.

I enter it all in and because it decides I have mistyped something I have to try again. Of course it has cleared out most of what I typed.

I try (typing) the right stuff in 5 times and it just keeps clearing things out for me to type them in again.

So after more than an hour of craziness and making my programs list garbage and being scared and seeing that Microsoft.com is a terrible website I haven’t run Moviemaker and I haven’t got the plus package.

The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind. I thought we had reached a low with Windows Network places or the messages I get when I try to use 802.11. (don’t you just love that root certificate message?)

When I really get to use the stuff I am sure I will have more feedback.

Half way across the world Xiang Hu typed:
sudo apt-get install kdenlive

And started editing on his son’s 3rd birthday video. Youtube didn’t exist in 2003, he only got to share the video with his family.

It is still unknown whether Bill Gates got to make his home video or not.

In an effort to thwart Linux sales on netbooks, Microsoft has started a training program at Best Buy to “educate” their “experts” on Linux. And true to their fashion, MS resorted to FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) and straight out LIES! However, Microsoft still maintains that Linux is not a threat to their market, they are just spending all this money to “help” people make an educated decision. Funny thing, is that they ended up promoting Linux.

Over here on The Linuxologist, we already debunked most of the general myths about Linux, however this one warrants its own response:

• No camera support? What are we exactly talking about here anyways? Webcams? Or regular digital cameras? Doesn’t really matter, both work perfectly fine on Linux, and out of the box in most cases. If we are talking webcams here,  some webcams might require tweaking and hacking. But remember we are talking about netbooks where Linux is pre-installed at the OEM level, so all webcams SHOULD work. Regular digital cameras work also, they would act like any regular USB peripheral.
• Most MP3 players sync perfectly fine with Linux. Microsoft doesn’t seem to know the difference between iTunes and MP3 player. iPod Touch can prove a bit tricky, but still Songbird among others provide good support. In any case, this is not Linux’s problem, but Apple’s and their draconian methods.
• Printers work perfectly fine, whether through CUPS or a manufacturers driver. While anecdotal, I have blogged about my woes of getting an HP printer to work on XP. The same printer worked out of the box on Ubuntu
• Limited software compatibility? Well if you are talking about software designed specifically for Windows environment, then yes of course it is limited! However there is NOTHING that you would want to run on a netbook that doesn’t have a suitable replacement.
• No support for Windows Live services. This one really takes the cake! I wonder why Redmond? Still Messenger works perfectly fine through other clients  that are more superior to the bloated Live messenger provided by MS. I am not sure what they mean by Mail, but I am assuming its their web-based E-mail (hotmail), but it also works. As for Photo Gallery, I don’t have the slightest idea of what it is, but really who uses it? People seem to be on  Flickr or Picassa.
• Who would even buy a netbook for gaming? Still, WoW (their example) works fine through wine and so do other high-end games. But I don’t know why one would do gaming on an 8 inch screen. Stick with solitaire.
• Authorized support? Red Hat, Canonical? Hell even Novell?
• Video chat works perfectly fine on Skype, Yahoo, and Live messenger (aMSN, Kopete…etc.) Gmail doesn’t yet support video or voice, but they are working on it. However, they do have a testing version (request here.) Not sure about other networks, but I am sure they work also.

Covered most of claims with the first slide but:

• iTunes and Zune users might face problems because of Redmond and Cupertino’s monopolistic practices. Still Linux users found ways around these issues (wine, Amarok, Songbird…etc)
• Quicken: Moneydance, GNUCash, and KMyMoney. Also, Mint and Quicken Online both work
• Photoshop: Gimp (lets not get into that endless PS Vs. Gimp debate, remember this is a netbook, no serious work should be done on it)
• Office 2007: OpenOffice

• Regular updates: Yeah because updating is an exclusive domain for Microsoft! Because nothing says secure like an update once every second Tuesday every month
• Meets expectations: Already debunked!
• Free downloads: Linux doesn’t need “free” security add-ons, the system is built from the bottom up to be safe Oh, and the whole OS is free!

• Funny how they were boasting that they update regularly, then use that same argument against Ubuntu
• It doesn’t have to be clear, unlike Windows, Linux doesn’t have to reboot after every freakin minor update. Hell you almost NEVER need to reboot, and even when you do, you don’t have to do it immediately. The system doesn’t nag you about it either

LOL, this one actually deserves its own demotivational poster. Share them with us. Be creative!

Ubuntu has grown to be one of the easiest distros to use which propelled it to be the most popular Linux flavor currently available. But guess what? Tweaking Ubuntu has can get a lot easier! The aptly named Ubuntu Tweak is designed to give you direct access to some of the hidden settings. Think of it as TweakUI on Windows.

Ubuntu Tweak Feature List

• View of Basic System Information(Distribution, Kernel, CPU, Memory, etc.)
• GNOME Session Control
• Auto Start Program Control
• Qucik install common usded applications
• A lot of third-party sources to keep application up-to-date
• Clean unneeded packages or cache to free the disk space
• Show/Hide and Change Splash screen
• Show/Hide desktop icons or Mounted Volumes
• Show/Hide/Rename Computer, Home, Trash icon or Network icon
• Tweak Metacity Window Manager’s Style and Behavior
• Compiz Fusion settings, Screen Edge Settings, Window Effects Settings, Menu Effect Settings
• Set the Shortcuts to let qucikly access your favourite applications
• GNOME Panel Settings
• Nautilus Settings
• Advanced Power Management Settings
• System Security Settings

How Does It Measure?

Well, it depends. Most of the hacks and tweaks in Ubuntu Tweak come as second nature for seasoned Linux/Ubuntu users. For example, without Ubuntu Tweak, I would have to launch gconf-editor and browse through trees of mysterious options to remove (or add) /home to my desktop. With Ubuntu Tweak, its just a click of a button. So if you are a new Linux user playing around with Ubuntu, or just want the luxury and the efficiency of quick tweaks, then Ubuntu Tweak is for you.

Download and Install

Head to Ubuntu Tweak’s download page and follow the instructions. Its your basic adding a repo, key, update, install. You know the drill

A reader of The Linuxologist was passionate enough to nominate us for a Blogger’s Choice Award ‘09 for the best Geek Blog. We really feel honored by this nomination, and if you do enjoy the blog we would really appreciate it if you would take the time to vote for The Linuxologist.

Unfortunately, the awards website requires you to create your own credentials. Wish that they had a Facebook or Twitter connect option, but they don’t. Still it would take you less than two minutes to sign up and vote.

But just to make things interesting, and motivate you geeks to actually sign up and vote, The Linuxologist will give out $20 Amazon coupon to a random lucky winner! The odds are really good!

Here is your chance to win and advocate Linux and Open Source, so what are you waiting for? VOTE!

Us Linux users are very passionate about our operating system. We get into flame wars with others, push it down other’s throats (which we don’t condone,) blog about, work feverishly in converting, and finally “vandalize” our cities.

Here are 13 Linux and Open Source graffiti art I found on the Interwebs. I tried to figure out where each was, but for some I just couldn’t find any info. So if you happen to know where one is located or know of any other cool graffiti, please leave a comment.

1-IBM’s Peace, Love, Linux

IBM’s Peace, Love, and Linux advertising campaign, sidewalk graffiti, observed on April 20, 2001 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

2-Born To Be Root

Our bird mascot gives Microsoft The Bird! I would really love to know where this piece of art is.

Update: Felis in the comments notes: “must be somewhere in Sweden. The text at the left – “Jag läsar din e-mail”  means “I’m reading your e-mail”  :-)”

3-Linux Starts Now

This one was seen in the Toronto subway only days after the the Microsoft Vista launch.

4-Obey: Tux

Based on Shepard Fairey’s famous Obama HOPE poster, comes this Tux graffiti (original artwork). Though it still hasn’t graced our streets, the artist behind it intends to do so. Can you beat him to it?

5-Linux Punx

Linux Punx – Hardcor3 – 1337 – g33k….nuff said!

6-We Do Linux

This can be seen in Australia,   which is apparently an ad for cybersource.com.au a leading Linux and open source solutions company.

7-Cron!

Found this on svana.org, without the context behind this one, it would appear as kiddie scribbles:

I was interested to see this on the Braddon Telstra building yesterday. Graffiti artists are getting into unix in a big way when they feel the need to pledge their support for the unix command scheduler on the side of buildings.

Of course I guess, as it was on the side of the Telstra building, it may be some statement about how telstra is run, all from a series of cron jobs. That may actually explain a lot about the organisation if you give it some thought.

8-Freedom Fighters

This one comes from Netherlands, according to Google Translate it says: “fight for” something (I am assuming freedom here), “stop prohibition” Maybe one of our readers can help? Xen in the comments translated this to: “Fight for your right to housing. Stop squatting prohibition.”

9-Tux on Rails

This one is on one of Chicago based TTX railcars, needless to say its traveling around the country.

10-IE Sux? Yeah It Does!

Well not exactly Linux related, but we love poking fun at Redmond don’t we? IE fail graffiti, lovely!

10-Tux of Torino

This one is in Torino, Italy. The hometown of my beloved Juventus. I’ll probably go findthis one on my next footballing adventure

11-Pinguino Urbano

Again in Italy, don’t know exactly where though.

12-Linux Rules!

This one is in Berlin, Germany.

13-Tux Stencil

Canadians sure love their Linux, this one is in Montreal.